U.S. federal agencies funded until Dec. 22

On Dec. 7, Congress voted to avert a partial government shutdown, as funding from a previous Continuing Resolution was due to expire on Dec. 8. The new continuing resolution extends current funding levels through Dec. 22, buying Congress a little more time to finalize spending for the current fiscal year (FY18). This does put the government at risk of a shutdown right as Congress is looking to leave for the holidays. Congress is expected to pass another Continuing Resolution, with some additional policy riders, by Dec. 22 with funding that would run into the beginning of 2018. Such action will give Congress more time to assemble the annual appropriations bills into an omnibus package for the remainder of FY18.

In September the House passed their version of the FY18 appropriations bill for the Interior, Environment, and Related agencies on a vote 211-198. On Nov. 20, a draft of the Senate version of the was released. The Senate is expected to skip the markup process and pass the bill as part of an omnibus package. Once both chambers have passed their versions of the bill, the House and the Senate will reconcile the differences and then the final version of the bill will need to be passed by both Chambers before it goes to the President for his approval.